The is a Test, Not the end of the World

If you hear alarms, sirens or that awful high-pitched screech over the radio at 2 p.m. today, don’t panic. It’s the first ever nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System.

The test is scheduled to last about a minute or so and will be broadcast on TV and radio networks simultaneously. It is being coordinated by the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Two years in the planning, the exercise is meant to expose weaknesses in a 60-year-old alert system that has never been used — not even on 9/11.

In the event there is a national emergency or any other hazard, the President would use the Emergency Alert System to address the American public.